Cara Lynn Shultz's Blog, page 16

…Ranks right up there with my favorite Emma moments.

Also, I just got a fun app that allows me to make all my quotes look purty, so I’m giving all my quotes from Spellbound and Spellcaster (and maybe a couple from The Dark World, *cough* out May 27 *cough*) the same treatment. Any requests?

A lot of writers hole up in a quiet room, needing absolute silence when they write. Others like to be in a crowded coffee shop, feeding off the frenetic energy of the caffeinated customers around them.

Me? I need music. Music is as much a part of my characters’ lives as it is a part of my writing process. And with Spellbound and Spellcaster, I had specific songs in mind for each character during key scenes.

And it’s the same with the characters in The Dark World.

As I count down to the release of The Dark World, I’m looking back at Brendan and Emma’s music picks — and on Mondays, I’ll post songs that tease the overall mood of The Dark World and hopefully give some insight into the characters of Paige Kelly and Logan Bradley.

So, let’s start at the beginning, with the Spellbound playlist!

Tell me: Do you guys listen to music when you write?

I’m sick with bronchitis on my birthday (boo) but I have a photo of a cat riding a piece of bacon through space (yay. So much yay.).

This is my new Twitter background.

…from our zombie apocalypse Cupid. (Hey, he’s got arrows….)

There are a few things I particularly love about the cover of The Dark World. I love how it’s dark and mysterious and moody—and yet, the design actually tells you what the book’s about. (Side note: I aspire to someday have Paige’s bangs. Her bang game is on point.) Authors rarely have a say in the design of their book covers. And let’s face it, people do judge books by their covers—otherwise, that wouldn’t be a saying.

So when my awesome editor Annie Stone (follow her on Twitter here) sent me an email with the cover, I was nervous.

And then, when I saw the cover, I was a lot like this:

The Dark World will come out May 27 in hardcover. It’s my first hardcover book! (Again, Beyoncé gif goes here. But really, is there ever a time where a Beyoncé gif isn’t appropriate?)

I just got in a big beautiful box of ARCs (advance reader copies), so I’ll be doing a giveaway before TDW comes out soon. (I’ll announce it on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram) so stay tuned.

Paige Kelly is used to weird–in fact, she probably corners the market on weird, considering that her best friend, Dottie, has been dead since the 1950s. But when a fire demon attacks Paige in detention, she has to admit that things have gotten out of her league. Luckily, the cute new boy in school, Logan Bradley, is a practiced demon slayer-and he isn’t fazed by Paige’s propensity to chat with the dead. Suddenly, Paige is smack in the middle of a centuries-old battle between warlocks and demons, learning to fight with a magic sword so that she can defend herself. And if she makes one wrong move, she’ll be pulled into the Dark World, an alternate version of our world that’s overrun by demons-and she might never make it home.

I admit it, I have been awful about updating this website.

Just awful.

When I realized how long it’s been since I updated it, I was very much like this:

BUT! I do have a good excuse. I swear. See, I’ve been hard at work on a new book. It’s called The Dark World, and it’s the first in a new trilogy. (Here it is on Goodreads!) And I’m so, so, so excited for this book to come out in May.

As for Spellbound — I adore Brendan and Emma, but there aren’t plans to continue their story at this time. I don’t want to force a storyline that will ruin them for readers. I’m not saying never, but I don’t want to write about them until I know it’s something worthy of the characters. Until then, I really hope you enjoy reading about Paige and Logan in The Dark World.

As soon as I can post more details about The Dark World (like the cover, which is gorgeous), I will.

In the meantime, you can follow me on Facebook and Twitter, where I post several times a day, usually.

You can download a free ebook of Spellbound for a limited time!

Check out the details here!

As some of you who follow me on social media may know, my husband, cat and I live in Zone A in Long Island City, and had to evacuate in advance of Hurricane Sandy. We’ve since returned home, and I’m happy and relieved—and acutely aware of how lucky we are—to report that our apartment has power/TV/etc. Given the choice, however, I would evacuate again, because when your mayor, building and the police tell you to do something, you do it.

The power is out in much of LIC. The Brooklyn-Battery tunnel looks like a swimming pool. Breezy Point is destroyed. Most residents below 42nd Street are out of power. But what hasn’t changed is the undeniable resilience of New Yorkers and the true small-town spirit that exists here. I grew up here, on Fifty-First and Tenth. (Anyone who read Spellbound and Spellcaster will recognize this address as Angelique’s building—my homage to my Hell’s Kitchen roots.) As soon as evacuations were announced, I immediately received tons of texts and calls from concerned friends and family. “Do you need a place to stay? We’ll come get you. Bring the cat!” Social media was flooded with open announcements of “Come stay! We’re happy to take you in!” As the effects of Sandy continue, so do these posts.

Half of Manhattan is still in darkness, but real New York spirit shines bright.

There’s so much to say, but I’ll let the Beastie Boys say it for me.

I

This made me crack up. Best if read out loud. KERRERTS!